OCR A-Level Psychology H567
Research Methods and Techniques
Planning and Conducting Research
Data Recording, Analysis and Presentation
Report Writing and Scientific Communication
Practical Activities and the Nature of Science
Mathematical Requirements for Research Methods
Studying and Evaluating the Core Studies: The Common Framework
Core Studies: Social Area
Core Studies: Cognitive Area
Core Studies: Developmental Area
Core Studies: Biological Area
Core Studies: Individual Differences Area
Areas and Perspectives in Psychology
Debates in Psychology
Practical Applications of Psychology
Issues in Mental Health
Child PsychologyApplied option
Criminal PsychologyApplied option
Environmental PsychologyApplied option
Sport and Exercise PsychologyApplied option
Methodological Issues and Debates Running Through Applied Psychology
Child Psychology
- 27 subtopics
- 80 things to know
- Component 03
- Component 03 applied option, two chosen from four
What Child Psychology covers
Child Psychology is examined on component 03 of OCR Psychology, Applied psychology. It is one of the four applied options, of which a student studies two. 301 recall questions across 27 subtopics.
The 27 subtopics
Each one has its own page.
- What psychologists mean by intelligenceRecall questions on what psychologists mean by intelligence, Spearman's g and s, fluid and crystallised intelligence, Gardner's multiple intelligences, Sternberg's triarchic theory, and calculating a ratio IQ from mental age.Open →
- Biological factors affecting intelligenceRecall questions on heritability, twin and adoption studies of intelligence, prenatal factors, brain size, the neural efficiency hypothesis, myelination, interpreting heritability estimates, and why biological research on intelligence is socially sensitive.Open →
- Van Leeuwen et al. (2008) twin-family study of IQ: background and procedureRecall questions on the aim of Van Leeuwen et al.'s 2008 twin-family study of IQ, why parents were included, the Dutch families who took part, the Raven's matrices tests used for children and parents, and how testing was carried out.Open →
- Van Leeuwen et al. (2008) twin-family study of IQ: results, conclusions and evaluationRecall questions on Van Leeuwen et al.'s findings on genetic influence, cultural transmission and assortative mating, their conclusion, and the evaluation of method, sample, the nature-nurture debate and determinism.Open →
- Assessing intelligence with standardised testsRecall questions on assessing intelligence with the Wechsler children's scale, full scale IQ, the mean and standard deviation of IQ scales, standardisation, Raven's Progressive Matrices, the Stanford-Binet scale, reliability, and the benefits, risks and validity of testing children.Open →
- Brain development in childhood and adolescenceRecall questions on when the brain matures, synaptic pruning, grey matter changes, myelination, the order of regional maturation, the prefrontal cortex, the reward response, and why the dual systems model predicts risk-taking peaks in adolescence.Open →
- Impact of brain development on risk-taking behaviourRecall questions on dopamine and adolescent risk-taking, common risky behaviours, peer presence, taking risks despite knowing the dangers, evolutionary explanations, adolescent sleep patterns, the law and young people, and criticisms of brain-based explanations.Open →
- Barkley-Levenson and Galvan (2014) expected value in the adolescent brain: background and methodRecall questions on the aim of Barkley-Levenson and Galvan's 2014 study, expected value and calculating it for a gamble, the method, design and sample, the adult age range, and why participants gambled with their own money.Open →
- Barkley-Levenson and Galvan (2014) expected value in the adolescent brain: results, conclusions and evaluationRecall questions on Barkley-Levenson and Galvan's gambling task, the behavioural and neural findings on expected value, their conclusion that adolescent risk-taking is not simply irrational, and the evaluation of method, ecological validity, sample and ethics.Open →
- Strategies to reduce risk-taking using knowledge of brain developmentRecall questions on strategies to reduce risk-taking using knowledge of brain development, including graduated licensing, reward-based and peer-based approaches, structured activities, school timing and brain education, applying them to a scenario, and criticising and evaluating them.Open →
- Perceptual development in children and animalsRecall questions on perception and sensation, nativist and empiricist accounts, depth cues and size constancy, newborn vision, preferential looking, habituation and high-amplitude sucking, animal studies including Blakemore and Cooper and Held and Hein, and cross-cultural studies.Open →
- Gibson and Walk (1960) the visual cliffRecall questions on Gibson and Walk's 1960 visual cliff study, including the apparatus, human sample and procedure, the results for infants, chicks, lambs, rats and dark-reared kittens, the conclusion about depth perception, and its strengths, validity and ethics.Open →
- Play strategies to develop perception in young childrenRecall questions on play strategies to develop perception in young children, including high-contrast and moving toys, texture baskets, peekaboo, shape sorters, crawling tunnels, active play, adult support, auditory play, inset jigsaws, and their limitations.Open →
- Piaget's theory of cognitive developmentRecall questions on schemas, assimilation, accommodation and disequilibrium in Piaget's theory, his four stages and their ages, and the achievements and limitations of sensorimotor, pre-operational, concrete operational and formal operational thinking.Open →
- Impact of Piaget, Vygotsky and Bruner on educationRecall questions on the educational implications and criticism of Piaget's theory, Vygotsky's zone of proximal development and scaffolding, group work versus discovery learning, Bruner's modes of representation and the spiral curriculum.Open →
- Wood et al. (1976) the role of tutoring in problem-solvingRecall questions on Wood et al.'s 1976 study of tutoring in problem-solving, including its aim, sample, block-building task, tutoring procedure, how three, four and five-year-olds behaved, the six tutoring functions, conclusions, and a strength and weakness.Open →
- Cognitive strategies to improve revision and learningRecall questions on cognitive strategies to improve learning and revision, including scaffolding and fading, retrieval practice, spaced practice, interleaving, dual coding, mnemonics and elaboration, advising a student, and evaluating whether a strategy works.Open →
- Development of attachment in babiesRecall questions on what attachment is and how it shows, Schaffer and Emerson's stages, learning theory, Harlow's rhesus monkeys, and Bowlby's adaptive view of attachment, social releasers and monotropy.Open →
- Impact of failure to develop attachmentsRecall questions on the internal working model, Bowlby's critical period, deprivation and privation, the juvenile thieves study, affectionless psychopathy, effects of failing to form attachments, institutional adoption research, and criticisms and social sensitivity of this research.Open →
- Ainsworth and Bell (1970) the Strange Situation: procedure and attachment typesRecall questions on the aim, sample and method of Ainsworth and Bell's 1970 Strange Situation study, its eight episodes, the behaviours rated, exploratory play, the three attachment types and how securely attached infants behave.Open →
- Ainsworth and Bell (1970) the Strange Situation: insecure types, conclusions and evaluationRecall questions on how insecure-avoidant and insecure-resistant infants behave in the Strange Situation, Ainsworth's conclusion about maternal sensitivity, the procedure's strengths, validity, ethnocentrism and ethics, and the later disorganised attachment type.Open →
- Developing an attachment-friendly environmentRecall questions on strategies for an attachment-friendly environment, including key persons, settling-in, low staff turnover, ratios, transitional objects, routines and responsive care, attachment-aware schools and hospital wards, and criticising and evaluating such policies.Open →
- Influence of television advertising on childrenRecall questions on when children distinguish adverts from programmes and grasp persuasive intent, pester power, social learning and classical conditioning explanations, advertising techniques aimed at children, and food advertising as a public health concern.Open →
- Stereotyping and materialism in children's advertisingRecall questions on materialism, gender stereotyping in the content, production features and voice-overs of adverts for boys and girls, why stereotyping matters, arguments that advertising's influence is overstated, social sensitivity, and changes in children's exposure.Open →
- Johnson and Young (2002) gendered voices in children's advertising: background and methodRecall questions on the aim and content analysis method of Johnson and Young's 2002 study of gendered voices in children's advertising, the adverts sampled and when they were recorded, target audience categories, and the verbs used in boy-oriented adverts.Open →
- Johnson and Young (2002) gendered voices in children's advertising: results, conclusions and evaluationRecall questions on Johnson and Young's findings on verbs in girl-oriented adverts and on voice-overs and their delivery, their conclusion, and a strength and weaknesses of the analysis, causation and generalising to today.Open →
- Strategies to reduce the impact of advertising aimed at childrenRecall questions on strategies to reduce the impact of advertising on children, including advertising literacy programmes, restrictive and active parental mediation, regulation, separators, online and influencer advertising, applying them to a scenario, and their limitations and evaluation.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
What is myelination, and what does it achieve?
Why does the adolescent brain's reward-versus-control account predict that risk-taking peaks in mid-adolescence rather than in childhood?
What was the key neural finding?
Why do the findings suggest adolescent risk-taking is not simply irrational?
How is habituation used to test what a baby can perceive?
What is the high-amplitude sucking procedure?
What did the visual cliff apparatus consist of?
Why can the study not prove that depth perception is innate in humans?
Why should a visual toy for a newborn be black and white rather than pastel?
Give one limitation of play-based strategies for developing perception.
Why does Vygotsky's theory encourage group work where Piaget's encourages individual discovery?
In what order did the tutor escalate her help?
What overall pattern was found in the amount and kind of help given?
What does reduction in degrees of freedom mean?
Why must scaffolding be pitched within the zone of proximal development?
Define attachment.
Describe the sequence of episodes.
Give one weakness of the Strange Situation relating to validity.
Why does understanding persuasive intent matter?
Who usually provides the voice-over in children's advertising?
Distinguish restrictive from active mediation, and say which is more effective.
Distinguish fluid intelligence from crystallised intelligence.
Which version of the test did the parents complete, and why a different one?
Give one benefit and one risk of giving a child an IQ score.
Why might a test given in English underestimate the ability of a child who has recently arrived in the country?
Distinguish assimilation from accommodation.
Explain the practical difference between waiting for readiness and teaching within the zone of proximal development.
What is fading, and why is it essential to scaffolding?
Distinguish deprivation from privation.
How could a nursery evaluate whether such a change has worked?
How has children's exposure to advertising changed in recent years?
Why did the researchers focus on verbs?
Besides analysing content rather than effects, what limits generalising from Johnson and Young's findings today?
What do psychologists generally mean by intelligence?
Why do researchers compare monozygotic and dizygotic twins when studying intelligence?
Name two factors acting before birth that can lower a child's later intelligence.
How many families took part in Van Leeuwen et al. (2008), and where were they from?
What proportion of the variation in general intelligence did the best-fitting model attribute to genes?
At roughly what age is the human brain fully mature?
What part does dopamine play in adolescent risk-taking?
A gamble offers a 50% chance of winning £20 and a 50% chance of losing £5. Calculate its expected value.
Who took part in Barkley-Levenson and Galvan's study?
Name one strategy that uses knowledge of brain development to reduce risk-taking in young people.
Why do graduated licensing schemes restrict late-night driving?
What is a schema in Piaget's theory?
Name Schaffer and Emerson's stages of attachment in order.
What is the internal working model?
Who took part in Ainsworth and Bell's study?
What did Ainsworth conclude was the source of these differences?
Name one strategy for making an early years setting attachment friendly.
What is pester power?
What method did they use?
What kinds of verbs characterised girl-oriented advertisements?
What regulatory approaches have been used to protect children from advertising?
What did Spearman mean by 'g'?
A study reports a heritability of 0.7 for IQ in one country. Explain why this does not mean improving schooling is pointless.
Who made up each of the families?
Name one standardised test widely used to assess a child's intelligence.
What happens to grey matter volume across adolescence?
Give three risk-taking behaviours that become more common during adolescence.
Why were the adults aged 25 to 30 rather than 18 to 24?
What were the behavioural findings?
Why do frightening information campaigns often fail with adolescents?
How does perception differ from sensation?
Who made up the human sample?
How far from a newborn's face should a visual toy be placed, and why?
Name Piaget's four stages in order with their approximate ages.
Give two educational implications of Piaget's theory.
What is retrieval practice?
What is monotropy?
What is affectionless psychopathy?
Name the three attachment types Ainsworth identified.
Give one strength of the procedure.
Why should staff turnover be kept low?
How does social learning theory explain advertising's influence on children?
What content typically appears in adverts aimed at girls?
Into which categories were the toy advertisements sorted by target audience?
What was found about the use of voice-overs?
Why has online advertising made regulation harder?
Take Child Psychology further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Fluid intelligence vs Crystallised intelligence
Fluid intelligence: the capacity to reason and solve novel problems independently of learned knowledge. Crystallised intelligence: the store of knowledge and skill built up through experience and education.
Assimilation vs Accommodation
Assimilation: fitting new information into an existing mental framework. Accommodation: changing an existing mental framework because new information will not fit.
Synaptic pruning vs Myelination
Synaptic pruning: the removal of little-used connections, which makes the network more efficient. Myelination: the insulation of nerve fibres in a fatty sheath, which speeds up transmission.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
What do psychologists generally mean by intelligence?
Model answer
Intelligence is usually defined as the capacity to learn from experience, reason, solve problems and adapt effectively to a changing environment.
- 2
What did Spearman mean by 'g'?
Model answer
Spearman's 'g' is a single general intelligence factor thought to underlie performance on every mental task, inferred from the finding that scores on very different cognitive tests all correlate positively.
- 3
In Spearman's two-factor theory, what does 's' refer to?
Model answer
's' refers to the specific abilities demanded by one particular task, so performance on any test reflects both general intelligence and that task-specific skill.
- 4
Distinguish fluid intelligence from crystallised intelligence.
Model answer
Fluid intelligence is the ability to reason and solve novel problems without relying on prior knowledge, while crystallised intelligence is the store of knowledge and skills built up through experience and education.
- 5
Name three of the separate intelligences proposed by Gardner.
Model answer
Gardner proposed linguistic, logical-mathematical and bodily-kinaesthetic intelligence, among others.
- 6
Name the three intelligences in Sternberg's triarchic theory.
Model answer
Sternberg proposed analytical, creative and practical intelligence.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Child Psychology revision questions
- What does Child Psychology cover in OCR A-Level Psychology?
- 27 subtopics: what psychologists mean by intelligence, biological factors affecting intelligence, van leeuwen et al. (2008) twin-family study of iq: background and procedure, van leeuwen et al. (2008) twin-family study of iq: results, conclusions and evaluation, assessing intelligence with standardised tests, brain development in childhood and adolescence, impact of brain development on risk-taking behaviour, barkley-levenson and galvan (2014) expected value in the adolescent brain: background and method, barkley-levenson and galvan (2014) expected value in the adolescent brain: results, conclusions and evaluation, strategies to reduce risk-taking using knowledge of brain development, perceptual development in children and animals, gibson and walk (1960) the visual cliff, play strategies to develop perception in young children, piaget's theory of cognitive development, impact of piaget, vygotsky and bruner on education, wood et al. (1976) the role of tutoring in problem-solving, cognitive strategies to improve revision and learning, development of attachment in babies, impact of failure to develop attachments, ainsworth and bell (1970) the strange situation: procedure and attachment types, ainsworth and bell (1970) the strange situation: insecure types, conclusions and evaluation, developing an attachment-friendly environment, influence of television advertising on children, stereotyping and materialism in children's advertising, johnson and young (2002) gendered voices in children's advertising: background and method, johnson and young (2002) gendered voices in children's advertising: results, conclusions and evaluation and strategies to reduce the impact of advertising aimed at children. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is Child Psychology organised?
- By the OCR H567 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in Child Psychology, on a schedule.
Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.
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